Second suspect charged in 2010 Houston slaying

A second suspect has been charged in the July 2010 killing of a man during a robbery at a northwest Houston apartment, Harris County prosecutors said.

Cristian Santiago Majia-Coto, 18, faces a capital murder charge in the death of Ernesto Moreno, court records show. Bond has been denied for the suspect, who remained at large Friday.

Majia-Coto, a Honduran national, was arrested September 2010 on a traffic stop in Saraland, Ala. Authorities found a 9 mm handgun in his possession that has been tied to the Houston homicide, according to an arrest warrant filed in the case.

Earlier this month, DNA analysis led to a charges against a co-defendant already in prison on a burglary conviction. Jean Carlo Ayala Madrid, 20, also has been charged with capital murder.

According to court records, Moreno and his roommate were at home on July 2, 2010, when a group of men tried to force their way into the apartment in the 15100 block of Ella Blvd.

As Moreno tried to close the door, one of the men reached his arm inside and shot him in the head and neck, records state. Investigators took a swab from the front door where the men had been pushing, and the DNA was analyzed by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science.

A comparison with the Combined DNA Index System known as CODIS identified a match with Ayala Madrid’s DNA, according to court records.

In May, a homicide investigator with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office visited Madrid in prison, where he is serving a two-year sentence for an unrelated home burglary, records state.

According to online law enforcement records, Ayala Madrid pleaded guilty to the burglary charge in October 2011 and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Ayala Madrid told the deputy that he and three other men had gone to Moreno’s apartment to rob him. He told investigators that he knew one of the men with him had a gun when they went to the apartment, the arrest warrant states.